Alberto Albanese graduated from the CatholicUniver­sityMedicalSchool in Rome, Italy, in 1977; he received his certification in Neurology in 1981 and in Psychiatry in 1985. From 1978 to 1979, Dr. Albanese was recipient of a Fulbright-Hays fellowship at the Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles. In 1985-86, he was visiting professor at the MaudsleyHospital, London, with the late Professor David Marsden. In 1990, he received the Roussel prize for research on Ageing. In 1997, he was appointed visiting professor at the University of Cordoba (Argentina) and in 2003, he was nominated Membre d’honneur à titre étranger by the French Neurological Society.

Career

In 1984, Alberto Albanese was appointed Assistant Professor in Neurology and Director of the Movement Disorders Clinic at the Gemelli hospital in Rome, and in 1992, was appointed Associate Professor of Neurology. In 1996, he was appointed Professor of Neurology and co-Chairman of the Department of Neurology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he stayed until 2000. In 2000, Alberto Albanese returned to his native country, where he was appointed Professor of Neurology and Head Neurologist at the NationalNeurologicalHospital “Carlo Besta," Milan. He currently holds the same position.

Research interests

His first research interests were in basic science. Using morphological staining and tract-tracing techniques in the 1970s, he studied the normal and abnormal activity of dopaminergic and cholinergic CNS neurons. He also evaluated animal models of disease developed using inbred mouse strains and monkeys rendered parkinsonian with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydro­pyridine (MPTP).

From the 1980s, Dr. Albanese became progressively more engaged in patient care and clinical research in the field of movement disorders and was a fellow in London with the late David Marsden, first in Denmark Hill and then in Queen Square. His research interest became focused mainly on dystonia, Parkinson’s disease, and other parkinsonian syndromes (such as multiple system atrophy). His publications cover an ample spectrum of movement disorders, including choreas and tics. He has been a pioneer in the introduction of botulinum toxins in Italy and has pioneered the use of deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. In this clinical capacity, Prof. Albanese has raised several generations of Italian neurologists with expertise in movement disorders and has mentored medical graduates who now hold neurological positions of international stance, such as: Prof. Enza Maria Valente (Rome), Dr. Anna Rita Bentivoglio (Rome), Dr. Carlo Colosimo (Rome), Dr. Elena Moro (Toronto).

Scientific activity

Alberto Albanese has published over 200 publications, including more than 170 scientific papers on indexed journals and several chapters on multi-authored books. His H index is 40. He has coordinated nationwide scientific projects in Italy and Switzerland and has received grants from a number of Italian and international granting agencies. He is Editor in Chief of Frontiers in Movement Disorders, Associate Editor of the European Journal of Neurology since 2007, and of Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders since 2008, and has been on the editorial board of Movement Disorders and of European Neurology from 1996 to 2000, and currently is on the editorial board of Current Neuropharmacology. He is a member of the Faculty of 1000, and has peer reviewed a number of neurological journals, including: Brain, Brain Dysfunction, Brain Research Bulletin, Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, European Journal of Neurology, European Neurology, Fundamental & Clinical Pharmacology, Journal of Neurology, Lancet, Nature, Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, Movement Disorders, Neurology, Neurological Sciences, Neuroscience Letters, and New England Journal of Medicine.

Prof. Albanese has chaired the International Conference on Basic and Therapeutic Aspects ofBotulinum and Tetanus Toxins (Baveno, Italy, 2008), and has been a member of the organizing committee of several international congresses, including the 8th MDS Congress (Rome, 2004), the Nineteenth Meeting of the European Neurological Society (Milan, 2008) and the XVIII WFN World Congress onParkinson’s Disease and Other Movement Disorders (Miami Beach, 2009).

Prof. Albanese is an honorary member of the French Neurological Society and of the Swiss Neurological Society. He is a regular member of several scientific societies, including the Italian Neurological Society (since 1980; repeatedly member of the executive committee), the Italian Movement Disorders Society (founder, President 2006-2007), the Movement Disorders Society (co-chair of the Task Force on DBS in Dystonia), and the AmericanAcademy of Neurology (corresponding fellow since 1991).